State: Lack of clarity by school after head resigns

The Sun's Woman of the Year, Kathy Egmont of Reading, head of school at Lowell Community Charter Public School. (SUN/Julia Malakie) (Julia Malakie)

LOWELL -- A state report on Lowell Community Charter Public School has found that the board of trustees "lacked clarity" in communication and decision-making following former Head of School Kathy Egmont's departure, only partially meeting two aspects of Charter School Performance Criteria.

After a site visit to the school and numerous staff interviews, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education also concluded that the circumstances around Egmont's departure "imposed a strain on the school's systems for decision-making and communication processes."

The report determined that the school only partially meets two aspects of Charter School Performance Criteria related to "organizational viability" -- governance and school leadership.

Board members and Egmont acknowledged that their communication with each other "had been difficult for some time," the report found.

"A practical implication of the conflict for the board's work was a communication's impasse that resulted in the board not being able to complete its evaluation of the head of school during the 2014-2015 school year," the report stated.

The board and Egmont told DESE that the 2015-2016 evaluation process was difficult, but board members said it was also not completed because Egmont's resignation happened before final evaluation steps.

The review comes after parents and others peppered the department with calls in May, concerned about Egmont's resignation.

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DESE attended one May 24 board meeting, in which parents and staff demanded the entire board's resignation and argued for Egmont's return.

The state visited the school three days later, interviewing two trustees, nine administrators and 30 teachers.

The report describes a school community trying to make sense of Egmont's departure with the information they could muster.

Both Egmont and the board of trustees signed a severance agreement that forbids them from speaking about the reasons for her resignation.

Some speculated the reason could have been disagreement over staff diversity, prompting parents and teachers to argue for the value of a quality educator over a teacher's ethnic background.

"In the absence of a formal explanation, members of the school community have pointed to a history of conflict between the board and the head of school, and to a board-commissioned study on diversity at the school," the report states.

Staff voiced concern over communication about the "diversity and inclusion" study that the board happened to discuss just before accepting Egmont's resignation.

"Staff members said they had not seen the results, but felt that the study had been used against the head of school and against teachers," the report found.

Administrators said that teachers were beginning to feel more positive about the school's future nearly a month later, according to the review.

But some teachers said they heard little about the transition from school administrators.

"Additionally, teachers reported that the transition had created a negative professional climate and stated that they felt as if they were working in a divided school," the report states.

That report found the school "partially meets" school leadership goals, which outline an "effective school leadership team that implements a clearly defined mission and set of goals."

School leadership is one aspect of the state charter criterion known as capacity, which determines whether a school has a "well-functioning organizational structure" and professional working climate for staff.

Board Chair Hung Mai argued that the findings only document a one-month time period, and also state that the board has been fulfilling its legal duties for the past year or so.

"When you talk about the separation, there was a rumor started that it was because of diversity issues," he said. "And a lot of people believe that rumor."

But, he said, the board is held by a separation agreement and cannot comment further.

Despite the timing of the diversity report's release, Mai noted that the report began one year ago.

He said the board plans to respond to the state's report at their next meeting.

Any change in leadership would cause a strain on the school, Mai said.

But he argued there was no time that the school did not have a head of school in place.

The board announced a succession plan after Egmont's resignation at a public meeting, but Mai noted that perhaps people did not look at or understand the plan.

"We were actually following a succession plan that was approved in the March meeting," he said. "To us, we were following a very clear process."

Nullifying the agreement to share more information on Egmont's departure, he said, could be a long and expensive option that he's not sure the parties would come to an agreement on.

"It comes down to we're really looking at the future," he said. "To me that's going back in the past."

The site visit allows the school to reflect and make adjustments, but does not require any action from the school at this point, according to DESE spokesperson Lauren Greene.

Charter schools receive state visits at least once during each five-year charter cycle, plus a final visit in the fifth and last year when a school seeks renewal for its charter.

The next renewal inspection for LCCPS is in the fall of 2019, Greene said.

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